Ethiopian plane forced to Geneva; hijacker nabbed

JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated PressPublished: February 17, 2014 9:00AM

Airliner hijacked: Police arrested a hijacker who forced an Ethiopian Airlines plane to land in Geneva on Monday. The airline said that all passengers and crew of the Rome-bound plane were safe. The airline said one of its planes flying from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, had been "forced to proceed to Geneva." Its website said the flight landed safely. It gave no further details.

Police escorted passengers one by one, their hands over their heads, from the taxied plane and into a waiting bus. Swiss police said the plane made an unscheduled landing in the Swiss city at 6 a.m. and the hijacker was arrested. Police spokesman Jean-Philippe Brandt told The Associated Press that "the situation is under control" and nobody on the flight was injured.

He said the plane was a Boeing 767-300, but had no immediate information on the number of people aboard.